Sorting Fish
The Gospel of Matthew records Jesus’s parable about the reign of heaven being “like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind” (13:47). I suggest that a parish evangelizing outreach is like a net that may collect “fish” of every kind: unbaptized adults and children of catechetical age, baptized uncatechized Christians, baptized catechized Christians, baptized Catholics needing Confirmation and Eucharist, baptized Catholics needing only Confirmation, fully initiated Catholics who have been alienated from the Church and seek to return, and Catholics seeking an update.